Chapter 8
Hitsugaya didn't care about anything anymore. Kusaka didn't matter. Aizen didn't matter. Even Hyourinmaru didn't matter – almost. Except the power being raised was driving him – them? – crazy. Both Hyourinmarus rose, writhing, keening.
He wanted to go to Sharon but he couldn't. Not the couldn't of lack of will but of binding. He could back away from her but he couldn't cut through the rall of reiatsu that was being raised.
He felt like cursing Unohana for training her a little too well.
Suddenly, a tendril of power shot out and wrapped itself around him. He couldn't see what was going on. His anger flared –
And then he understood what she was trying to do, and how, and why.
Hitsugaya called out. "SOUTEN NI ZASE!"
Bless that Unohana for training her so well.
An icy blue-white blur shot toward the small figure on the other side of the hall that was Kusaka. A dusky purple blur, a little too late, trailed behind.
And a silver streak hit Hitsugaya from the side like a speeding train. He found himself blasted in the opposite direction the dragons had gone. Still in the grip of that vine of reiatsu, he crumpled in a heap with a smaller, perfect, beautiful, silver dragon, so like her parents, wrapped around him, shielding him.
The world erupted in a blaze of white hot light.
:Fusion reactions do let off a lot of energy, don't they?:
For the first time, she had spoken directly to Hitsugaya. While the hall, perhaps the whole palace, was crumbling around them, that… that… infuriating dragon had the calm, wry mind-voice of a lady leisurely sipping her tea.
Aizen and his dais and everything on it were pushed back in rubble. Renji and Rukia would have quite a story to tell when they got back.
Kusaka wasn't going to be anywhere. He was consumed by the blast.
She had known who was who, not with eyes and not even with heart. The real Hitsugaya was the one who loved her and came for her. The other cared about gaining Hyourinmaru.
To one, the power to protect. The other, the power to compel.
No longer.
There was no longer another wielder for Hyourinmaru. And there was no longer "another" Hyourinmaru.
Hitsugaya pushed gently at… his? Hyourimaru's? their?... daughter. Pushed gently, then a little more firmly, as he struggled to sit up. Slowly, the silver coils relaxed, then let go altogether. She shivered loose, then shimmered, then returned to the little girl form he had seen first. She was so delicate and so strong all at once. She was also quite unconscious. Hitsugaya gained his feet, then gently picked her up and approached the tall figure that stood in the ruin.
Stood?
For it was a human figure standing there now, where dragon had conquered dragon and heart, body, and soul that were divided became whole. He was tall, handsome, a collar of ice about his neck, a trailing… tail?... of ice just past his feet, feet that seemed sometimes like slender claws. His outer robe was a shade of dusky lavender not much different from the Kusaka-dragon, clasped just below the opening of the icy collar with a chain. And as Hitsugaya approached closer, he saw the long silky hair flowing like a frozen waterfall down his back. He could see the gray eyes, like an overcast sky heavy with unshed rain, gazing at him from that face, marked with an X-shaped scar crossing from temple to just below the cheekbone on either side. The skin was pale but the scar was white ice.
"Hyourinmaru?"
Hitsugaya was trying to process what had happened.
Another figure came from behind him. She was no longer in the sailor uniform, but in a kimono a deep, rich indigo with a delicate silver crane pattern. She crossed over to Hyourinmaru and raised a gentle hand to one cheek. Hitsugaya was close enough by now to see the tears glistening in her eyes. They did not need to speak. Not that any words could have been enough at that moment. Hyourinmaru cupped her cheek with one hand and lifted her face to his while his other arm wrapped around her.
"Not to interrupt the moment, folks, but I think we had better get out of here while we have the chance."
Of course. Sharon was trying to brush off her once blue robe. Hitsugaya just smiled. He cradled the girl and went to Sharon's side. He stood up straighter. For once he didn't mind being the shortest person in the group… He was surrounded by the people he loved and who loved him.
"Before Aizen has the chance to spoil the happy little family reunion, do you have any ideas on how to get out of here?" Renji and Rukia, a little worse for wear, came up to them.
Hyourinmaru and his bride – for a bride she was – smiled back at them all. "A little focus is all we need, and I think it will be better than the last time," she crooned. Then she looked back up at her lover, and he took the invitation gladly. As their lips met, a crack opened. But it was not a raw and ragged hole as much as a slit, like a peeking under covers. A path formed before them, wide and sure.
Oshidamaru? Scout? Whatever she would eventually call herself, she was bride, and mother. She reached over to stroke the girl's cheek. As she brushed a lock of silver hair out of the child's face, she murmured "Her name. Her name is Ice Song, just so you know. A song out of silence, born in ice and night."
"We go." Hyourinmaru's rich, deep voice held a finality in it that brooked no discussion. Even if anyone there had dared, they could not have held back that group from crossing the border out of Hueco Mundo, and taking the path home.
